The River City Brass Ban is a modified British-style brass band based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band performed its first concert on November 21, 1981, with its founder Robert Bernat as conductor. In addition to its accessible performance style, RCBB is renowned for its recordings and original compositions. Part of its mission is to propagate and promote the brass band tradition through recordings and commissioning new works and arrangements. To date, RCBB has released fifteen recordings that are distributed nationally and internationally. The band annually performs in excess of sixty concerts in the Pittsburgh area, as well as a large number of performances on tour, throughout the United States. RCBB differs from most brass bands in that the instrumentation has been altered. French Horns are used instead of tenor horns, and a soprano trumpet is employed in place of a soprano cornet. The result is a lighter, brighter, more "orchestral" sound than the standard brass band.